Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-10-12
BANANAS ALI TIE YEAR.
Something About the Delicious Southern
EruIt

Something About tho Delicious Southern
Fruit.
A steamer unloading 10000 lunches Of
bananas. 4 stevedore mounted on the
deck, giving out orders to 100 'longshore
men who stand in lines and pass the
lunches of fruit from the hold of the
vessel to waiting trucks. The owner,
standing on an upturned barrel and calling
out "One," "TWo" or "Three," desig-
mating the grades to which the bananas
belong Trucks backing into place, load
| ing and pulling out to make room foI
others. Small boys scurrying between the
trucks and fessting on the over ripe
| fruit.
Such was the scene reporter beheld
on down town wharf in New York.
"TwO million lunches of bananas come
| into this port alone every year now" said
the importer. "Previous to 1884 there
We're not near so many. Schooners were
employ ed, ard they took six weeks to
make trip, carrying only $500 punches,
and lost quarter of them on account of
the length of time afloat, and the damage
By salt water. Nov we have regular
lines Of steamers that carry four or five
times as much fruit and make such quick
trips that there is practically no loss Of
fruit"
"Where do the bananas come from?"
"Well, the reds, which appear to be
the favorites, come from BarEcOs, Cuba.
We get from 1000 to 10000 punches of
them week during August, but less
now that peaches are in market. The
yellow ones come from Jamaica, Pana-
ms, Costa Rica AMI Nicaragua. There
are some bananas produced in Florida,
but the home demand prevents any COM
ing here. It will not be long before the
red bananas will be very scarce, IS the
Cuban planters sre replacing them with
the yellow slips from Jamaica. The
cause of this is that the yellow produce
punches averaging from 50 to 81 25,
while the red will not average more than
81 80 bunch"
"How do bananas groW?"
son immense plantations, laid Off in
two rows of trees about eight feet apart
each way. The trunk of banana tree is
composed of the stems of leaves, and
grows from fifteen to twenty feet high.
When the fruiting begins bud appears
st the top of the stem and develops into
bunch of bananas. When the fruit is
gathered the tree is cut down and left to
decay, and new sprouts start up from the
same root, and thus the crop is continu-
ally renewed. There are about 700 trees
to the acre, and each one produces one
bunch of fruit. New plantations are
started by setting out young sprouts
about two feet high. The gather
ing of the bananas differs. In Cen
tral America the native Indians are en-
ployed. They cut the tree with ma
chete until it bends over so as to bring
the bunch within reach. 1t is then cut
off and carried on the backs OF the men
down to the ships which run up the riv-
eTs. The loading is usually done by
forming line and passing the punches
from hand to hand. This is not very
pleasant work, as the punches often con,
+ain scorpions, tarantulas, centipedes,
snd other venomous insects that get
shaken out CT the punches as they are
passed and bite or sting the handler. In
Jamaica the negro women are used to
load the fruit, and in Cuba both ne
groes and half breeds are en-
Dloyed. In the hold of
the vessel the bananas are placed in oins
holding several hundred punches each,
and arranged to admit all of the air pos
sible. The ventilation is so important
that large canvas fuurels called wind
sails are fixed On deck TO catch the wind
AID carry it down into the hold. In win
ter much care is necessary to prevent the
cargo from freezing on the voyage or
while unloading. Bananas are almost
the only fruit that is always in season.
They arrive at this port every month in
the yesr. During the poorest months in
midwinter we receive 20, 900 punches, and
in the summer the number frequently
reaches $50, 900 punches"